The Endless Game

Yesterday we all were free to wander
Went downtown, had joyrides in our cars
Suddenly, came movement control orders
They made our spirits drop like falling stars

And the people, they're all locked down
While the daily numbers aren't coming down
We're captive in this lockdown all the time

We can't go out, we can only look,
As numbers stay the same
And go round and round and round
. . . in this endless game

(Sung to the tune of The Circle Game by Joni Mitchell)

By Harold Huang
Tue 2021.07.06, 21:21 hrs GMT+8

#poetry #poetrybyharold #KerajaanGagal

A disappointing smile

A song about the pretentious smiles of lying politicians who announce endless extensions of lockdowns:

Smile, a disappointing smile
Your smile can bring bad news to me
Don't let my TV find you on,
'Cause that would bring a tear to me

This land has lost its glory
We need a brand new story
Now my love,

Right now
Just as in other times,
Your smile can't show me how, my love

Talk in ever twisting words
And complicate them all for me
And I don't need such words in life
Don't ever try to call to me

We know that you don't even mean
A single word you say

It's only words, and lying words you have
Please take them all away . . .

(Sung to the tune of "Words", Bee Gees)

By Harold Huang
Sun 2021.06.27 21:41 hrs GMT+8

#poetry #poetrybyharold #KerajaanGagal

Fourteen Days At Home

How to spend fourteen days at home:

Day 1 Stayed at home
Day 2 Bored at home
Day 3 Unhappy at home

Day 4 Lost at home
Day 5 Impatient at home

Day 6 Fidgety at home
Day 7 Restless at home

Day 8 Mope at home
Day 9 Despondent at home
Day 10 Depressed at home

Day 11 Angry at home
Day 12 Hostile at home
Day 13 Suicidal at home
Day 14 Laughing hysterically at home

#Covid19 #Pandemic

The road-block skeptic

[This post is about the current worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.]

Friday, 20200320.
Day 3 of Malaysia's Movement Control Order.

Earlier today, a State Chief Secretary went out to inspect the enforcement of the Movement Control Order at a road-block in town. He was disappointed when he saw many vehicles on the road, and by the reasons given by the drivers when asked why they were not staying back at home.

He thought they were mere excuses.

In one of my earlier facebook posts this morning, I had opined that the setting up of road-blocks, especially with the deployment of the army this Sunday, will make it harder for us to go out for essential goods and services.

"Not true,"

replied a friend bluntly, strongly disagreeing with me, and asserting that it is our right to go out for essential things that are exempted under the ongoing Movement Control Order.

What he failed to see is that, in practice, there will be varying degrees of skepticism shown by officers at road-blocks, even if you are going out for genuine reasons.

That is my concern.

I didn't have to wait long for a confirmation. Tonight, this news report quotes the state secretary as saying:

/// “Some of the excuses given by the motorists I spoke to was that they were fetching their wives, buying food and going to the bank. ///

Fetching your spouse home, buying food from the restaurant, and going to the bank are reasons that can be seen as excuses here.

Yes, anything you say might be construed as an excuse. It depends on how skeptical the officer at the road-block is. If he isn't convinced by your explanation, it's an excuse to him, and you may be ordered to turn around and go home.

Yesterday morning, I had to make a half an hour drive to Tanjung Tualang to turn off the water mains in our second house there. The float in the storage tank had failed recently and water would overflow if the house is left unattended.

Happily, I didn't encounter any road blocks. If I had, how would I have explained this to the officer in charge? Probably he would've thought that I was making up an excuse.

This morning I had to make a long 40 minute drive to a specialist's clinic in Ipoh to obtain the monthly supply of medication for my mother, and then to bring it to her at the home where she stays.

Again, if I had been stopped at roadblocks along the way, will the officers believe my story?

Or will it be yet another excuse?

#Covid-19 #Pandemic

The Army is deployed

[This post is about the current worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.]

Malaysia, Movement Control Order Day 3.

The Army will be deployed:
This Sunday 22Mar20

Dear Malaysian friends,

Please replenish your supplies of foodstuff and medicines.

I have just managed to bring another month's supply of medicines for my mother in Ipoh, and to buy more provisions from the supermarket, at risk of being stopped and questioned at road-blocks.

It will become increasingly difficult to go out of our homes to get supplies.

#Covid-19 #Pandemic

Are we going overboard?

[This post is about the current worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.]

Friday, 20200320.
Malaysia, Movement Control Order Day 3

Are we going overboard with Movement Control?

The MCO is a Movement Control Order, not a Mass Confinement Order.

We are called to practise Social Distancing, not Social Detention.

A person walking alone in a vast space is not in contact with any other individual, and should be allowed to get some fresh air and exercise.

In my opinion, the police should come in only when groups of people gather or when a crowd forms, or when there are many people in the park.

And I think the police should be dispersing people from busy and crowded locations such as people sitting in coffee shops instead of trying to tell a lone pedestrian to go home.

All this hyped up talk about "Just Stay At Home" is bringing us towards a mass hysteria of sorts.

#Covid-19 #Pandemic

Boots on the ground

[This post is about the current worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.]

Thursday, 20200319.
Malaysia, Movement Control Order Day 2.

Today, there are news reports that the Army may be deployed to enforce the ongoing Movement Control Order.

Are we reacting to our own shortsightedness?

If only the "Just stay at home" part were emphasised and made central to the initial announcement of the MCO by the PM,
If uni students were not ordered to go home,
If highways were closed, and long distance public transport suspended . . .

So much more thinking could have gone into policy making by the Majlis Keselamatan Negara MKN, under the leadership of the PM.

Alas, it was not so.

As the wave of new cases coming from the 16,000 strong "tabligh" Convention at the Sri Petaling Mosque continue to hit us, we may have to brave ourselves for yet another wave caused by the mass "balik kampong" exodus two days ago.

The Minister of Defence says only some 60% of Malaysians complied with the movement control order yesterday.